Creating a Digital Accessibility Policy for Your Organization

As the world continues to advance and digital communications become a key part of every organization, digital accessibility becomes more and more needed. Organizations committed to accessibility need to enact a policy to be digitally accessible. This policy includes affirming that your company is committed to having an inclusive digital footprint – including websites, webchats, PDF documents, invoices, mobile applications, job applications, and more.

Providing your clients, employees, and audience accessible access to your organization starts with a digital accessibility plan for your website. Creating a digital presence that is accessible to all will allow your organization to reach its full potential. Top Roof Marketing is here to help you create an accessible online presence! Call 800-795-2187 to learn how easy it can be with our help.

>> IMPORTANT NOTE: INACCESSIBILITY HAS LED TO LAWSUITS <<
Companies have been and can be sued if they do not have an accessible website. It is vital as we continue to progress into a hyper-digital age that your website is functional for all users, not just those without accessibility needs.

Step one: Learn the basics

When creating a digital accessibility plan, start first by understanding what it means to have an accessible website. Understanding the differences between accessible and inaccessible will help you draft a plan for your organization’s policy. Consider the following:

  • What is required to be accessible?
  • How does color contrast play a role in web accessibility?
  • How does assistive technology get around your content?
  • Do your online videos have auto-play options and captions?
  • Have I reviewed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)?

Once you have taken the time to learn the basics, it is time to define the requirements.

Step two: Define digital accessibility requirements for your organization

From day one, it is important to define the expectations of what your organization requires for your policy. Consider your employees, clients, online audience, and any others who utilize your digital applications. Determine what each person will need to have full accessibility to your digital presence. But don’t stress if you don’t have all the answers — you don’t have to undertake this process alone. Our team members are here to help you understand your accessibility needs and implement them.

Step three: Hire developers and vendors with digital accessibility experience

Not all website developers have knowledge about digital accessibility. We have solutions that will work alongside your existing website to create the desired experience for your users. You can leverage our knowledge to take on your organization’s digital accessibility policy.

Our developers have experience in digital accessibility and can help you create a plan. We would love to help your company transition your existing digital presence to properly comply with ADA requirements.

Step four: Prepare an accessibility statement

Creating an accessibility statement is a powerful declaration to your employees, clients, and vendors that your company is committed to web accessibility. Your statement should be clear, concise, and define all the methods used to explain the level of accessibility your users can expect. Don’t worry, our team can help you prepare this as well!

Step five: Plan for ongoing maintenance with accessibility experts

Once your digital accessibility is in place, the project is not finished. Instead, your organization should ensure that you have regular accessibility checks and ongoing maintenance with Top Roof Marketing. As the business develops, you will want to make sure that your accessibility efforts do not lag.

Final Thoughts

As your organization begins the process to create a digital accessibility policy, remember you are not alone. Our team at Top Roof Marketing has already learned the key aspects of digital accessibility and can lend a hand.

Taking the step to have a fully accessible website will not only benefit your organization, but it will also benefit your audiences, including people with disabilities.

Call 800-795-2187 to get started today.

 

Telemarketing for Commercial Roofing Contractors: Why Outsourcing Makes Sense

Compared to digital marketing and social media, telemarketing is not exactly cutting-edge technology. However, its efficacy should not be underestimated. Despite a shift towards online strategies, experts still regard telemarketing as an effective and efficient method for generating leads. According to a study, 40% of marketers believe telemarketing is the best vehicle to reach high-quality leads. In-person interactions ranked a close second at 43%.

Why choose us?

  • Specialized in Commercial
  • Fine-Tuned Strategies
  • Commitment to Quality

Learn More

A tried-and-true marketing tool, telemarketing allows businesses to connect with customers on a personal level. Interacting directly with clients has many benefits. The biggest one is that you can find out exactly what their needs and potential objections might be.

Requirements for a Successful Telemarketing Campaign

While telemarketing has clear advantages, implementing a successful campaign can be challenging. A strong telemarketing campaign demands:

• Expertly trained telemarketers: When launching an in-house campaign, businesses often enlist the help of their staff. This is a common mistake. Because someone is a good employee, it doesn’t mean they have the skills to handle telemarketing. In many cases, employees find the ordeal stressful; and they lack the confidence necessary to secure appointments.

marketing question• A quiet work environment: The typical office environment is not conducive to a successful campaign. In a quiet space, telemarketers are able to concentrate on the call recipient. Limiting background noise reduces instances of miscommunication and is a hallmark of professional services.

• Professionally written & researched scripts: In order to turn leads into sales, a campaign must have a strong script. Without one, a campaign is doomed. A feeble script can result in loopholes, awkward silences, and closed questioning.

• Telemarketing equipment: Though telemarketing has been used for decades, the process now involves an array of high-tech equipment, such as computers, software, cables, headsets, and more. This equipment requires maintenance, technical support, and care. Outsourcing completely eliminates these expenses, without sacrificing the better response rates.

Meeting these requirements can put a strain on businesses both physically and financially. That’s why more businesses are choosing to outsource their telemarketing efforts. By hiring skilled industry professionals, companies receive premium services and a maximum return on their investment (ROI).

Our Commitment to Telemarketing Excellence

At Top Roof Marketing, we provide commercial roofing clients with a customized telemarketing experience through our collaborative relationships. Every campaign is structured to meet a client’s specific needs and goals. This telemarketing approach is driven not only by marketing expertise, but an acute knowledge of the commercial roofing industry. This combination has helped clients of ours achieve optimum results.

Going the Extra Mile

Top Roof Marketing believes in keeping clients informed throughout the telemarketing process. We take every step possible to ensure complete customer satisfaction.

Here’s how:

• Full reports on the outcome of every call
• Detailed information on set appointments
• Our team sends pre-approved emails to those who request info & deliver this warm lead to our client
• Proven scripts are used for maximum conversions
• All calls are monitored to assure accountability & consistent results

To learn more about our telemarketing services, contact Top Roof Marketing at (800) 795-2187. Schedule a free consultation today! We look forward to hearing from you.

Fully Updated WordPress Platform

Having a fully updated WordPress platform is likely something you’ve rarely thought about. After your website was launched, many business owners don’t think about the platform it was built on until trouble comes knocking.

Unfortunately, trouble never sleeps, and hackers are eager to do damage. That is why It is especially important to update and secure your website on a regular basis.  If you have an older WordPress website you should update your platform immediately. You are particularly prone to hackers as you are an easy target.  Once in, hackers can install malicious files or delete content.

If hackers succeed, it can cause long term problems with your online reputation, including with the search engines.  The first time it happens you can usually earn your good standing back, but if it happens again it is extremely difficult to regain trust.  As you can imagine, Google and other search engines do not want to send anyone to a site that has a virus, malware, spyware, etc.  If these are detected, your site will be demoted quickly.

Proactive Measures Can Be Taken

While nothing can fully prevent an attack, having your WordPress platform updated with added bulletproof security will give you the best chance for complete protection. The best part is, if this is done through Top Roof Marketing, it comes with a warranty! No one can guarantee a 100% hack free website – just ask Adobe, Equifax, LinkedIn, eBay, Yahoo, and countless other name brands who had tight website security and still ended up affected. Instead, we guarantee that IF your website is compromised, we’ll fix it at no charge.

With our proactive approach, you will get the following benefits:

  • Monthly updates of your WordPress Platform, CMS engine, and every plugin
  • Added Bulletproof security
  • Ongoing security upgrades and monitoring
  • Complex usernames and passwords
  • Backup of your website in two different locations monthly
  • Warranty you can count on

We also recommend securing your website with an SSL certificate. This provides verification that you have taken the steps necessary to keep your clients protected while on your site.

Contact Top Roof Marketing Today

Don’t risk your website being compromised before you act. To learning more about proactively protecting your website, please reach out to our team. We are here for you at (800)795-2187.

What to do if your website has been hacked?

Unfortunately in the online universe, website hacking is common. The most valuable targets are larger corporations, but hackers looking to increase their cyber crimes have to start somewhere – and that means smaller, easier to hack websites are easy targets.

The first step to ensuring your website is less hackable is to ensure your site has the following:

  • Employ website security tools
  • Keep all software up to date
  • Utilize complex usernames and passwords
  • Use HTTPS (SSL verification)

Even with the use of the aforementioned tactics, your site can be compromised. So what do you do then?

Next Steps

If a hacker takes control of your website, you must take serious steps to address the problem immediately. Since the website is the responsibility of your company, you can handle these steps on your own; however, we suggest working with a professional website technical team – like our professionals at Top Roof Marketing. Our team can identify the damage done, remove any malicious code (including backdoor access that may have been established), and provide steps to protect your website from future attacks.

If you choose to address the problem yourself, the most common process to handle a website hack consists of:

  • Contacting the host
  • Find and reverse the damage
  • Change your passwords
  • Create a backup
  • Update website security
  • Create a website maintenance plan

It is nearly impossible to have a one-size-fits-all plan to address every hack on the internet. However, if your website is compromised, the Top Roof Marketing team is here for you. We will identify your site’s weaknesses and correct them.

Top Roof Marketing Website Maintenance

When you work with the team at Top Roof Marketing, our website packages are customizable. Once your site is built, you fully own it and there are no recurring fees (unless you choose to have us host the site). However, we will always recommend our clients set up a maintenance package. Our maintenance plans for websites include:

  • Ongoing security upgrades and monitoring
  • Fully updated WordPress Platform (CMS engine, theme, and plugins)
  • Bullet proof security plugin maintenance
  • Back ups of site put in two locations every month

And the best reason to utilize our website maintenance plan is because your website will be under warranty. That’s right, if your website is ever hacked or compromised, your site will be repaired for free!

To learn more about the website security options Top Roof Marketing provides, please reach out to our team at 800-795-2187.

The Team Continues to Expand

We all know 2020 has been quite an unusual year. Your Top Roof Marketing team has adjusted our marketing strategies to adapt to these changing times, and we continue to refine each approach and method. These adjustments are proving successful! It is our goal and plan to bring further innovation and vision for the days ahead. We proactively strengthen our operations and strategy to always serve you with excellence.

Felicia Dupre’

In early June, we officially announced that Felicia Dupre’ had joined our core team. As many of you now know, her energy is contagious. Because of her help, we have grown in many different areas this summer with much more to come as she brings innovative and strategic ideas front and center. Felicia enjoys writing and working with the team to create top quality designs and deliver excellent service, but she especially likes helping each client see their strengths and business potential. She is positive about each business and individual success and will help you stay motivated to meet your goals. Working two family businesses from age twelve past college taught her the importance of strong work ethic and we have certainly experienced that over these past few months. Those who have worked directly with Felicia on projects have shared great things about their interactions and her helpful enthusiasm.

Our team is grateful for the forward-thinking vision, great quality assurance and highly praised customer service Felicia brings to our team.

Diana Warwick

Announcing that Diana Warwick has joined the Top Roof Marketing team is a true pleasure. In just a short time, Diana has already proven to be an amazing addition as she brings many years of experience and strong organizational skills with her. We seek to give every client exceptional care and service, and Diana is an essential part in helping us meet that goal. Her cooperative leadership in developing the structure needed for every project sets the foundation stronger from which we build. This gives greater efficiency for every task in the process from start to launch of each project. Diana enjoys writing engaging content and offering the needed structure for business success. She loves helping others and spending time with her family on the beaches of Mexico.

Top Roof Marketing is thankful to have Diana as part of our team, providing clients with the quality and professionalism they expect when working with a team of specialists such as ours.

Great Things Ahead

We want to be your go-to source for all things marketing while helping you enjoy the process of each project. Along with our collaborative team, Felicia and Diana bring the essential building blocks to make that happen! The future is bright at Top Roof Marketing. We are honored to serve our clients as they adjust to new ideas and unexpected obstacles for rebuilding our economy and country. We stand with you to bring only the best in the industry, and delight in your success. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to earn and maintain your trust!

Our Response to Recent Industry Changes

First and foremost, during these uncertain times, we are saying prayers for the health and financial strength of our communities, our team members, and our clients.

The good news is that the Top Roof Marketing team has been practicing social distancing since we were founded in 2013. That’s right – our team is 100% virtual, except our printing operation. Each writer, editor, designer, developer, and project manager works from their own homes, so we haven’t had any disruption in workflow or efficiencies.

We’ve also been fortunate enough to continue our growth, while not at the same trajectory, throughout the pandemic. We owe this to the trust our clients place in our operation, and our staff who have been able to swiftly adapt to this new climate by using the data we compile on an going basis to figure out what works and what doesn’t .

How COVID-19 Has Changed the Marketing Industry

Since the beginning, Top Roof Marketing has tracked the results of the marketing operations that we deploy. In the beginning of March when there were no “stay at home orders” yet, we discovered the initial drop of the stock market directly affected many of our direct mail marketing campaigns underway. Upon this discovery, we advised all clients to halt their direct mail drops until we were able to get a better grasp on how the commercial building market would react to unfolding events.

In the meantime, we knew what worked – the internet! It is at everyone’s fingertips 24/7 and the easiest way to get clients to their prospects. Plus, the online community has exploded in growth with more usage and more participation from older demographics. We amped up our Website Design and SEO teams to ensure that we could meet all the new demand for impressive websites with high rankings on Google to drive new leads.

We also had our developers work on new add-ons for client’s websites. This included:

  • Social distancing pop ups for no-contact estimates (the results surpassed our expectations)
  • Chatbot features installed
  • COVID-19 Process updates on the home page
  • Dedicated Virtual Process page that explained the no-contact program

But that’s not where we stopped the COVID-19 marketing. We began testing the waters with direct mail once more in June. At the first sign that the direct mailers worked, we let the flood gates open! We’re happy to say that as of August, the results from our direct mail service have rebounded very near to prior levels.

How Top Roof Marketing is Different

While reading this blog, you might have noticed our candor about what works and what won’t. At Top Roof Marketing, our clients turn to us for our honesty – and quality. Our team stands behind our work 100%. We will only recommend services that we are confident in. Can we guarantee incredible results 100% of the time? No – because no one can. But we can guarantee that we are tracking each marketing campaign that our team works on to ensure that we are providing trusted services.

The COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunately far from over, but the Top Roof Marketing team is here to help share helpful information and our specialized experience in the commercial roofing industry during this time.

Upcoming Changes Add Expertise and Expand Team

With growth comes new opportunity. At Top Roof Marketing, each of our team members enjoy close-knit relationships with each other as well as our hundreds of clients across the nation. As such, we have seen many different life changes over the years and will always support everyone’s future endeavors while continually growing ourselves.

Many of you have worked with Meg Ogran directly. She has done so much in the past 4+ years to boost ROI for clients, while constantly growing Top Roof Marketing’s client base.

Here is Megan’s letter to you all:

It is no secret that I have always had a passion for the environment and animals. Throughout the last few years, I have worked alongside various non-profit organizations via Top Roof Marketing’s non-roofing division called Top Jump Marketing and a few places I volunteer. Because of these connections, I received an offer to use my talents to help make an even bigger impact on the world, environment, and animals. To step into the role of digital advocacy with a global non-profit organization, I am reducing many of my responsibilities here.

While I know this was totally unexpected, I assure you that my love for our team and our clients will not dissipate. I will continue to work alongside the fantastic teammates here and guide new initiatives with my new consultant role here, ensuring Top Roof Marketing continues to achieve the highest client satisfaction.

The best part is that the growth of my career has offered up new opportunity for two talented individuals. The first person stepping into part of my role is no stranger to our clients. In fact, she’s been working with many of you for more than a year now! I’ve been blessed to know this incredible woman for the last nine years as my fantastic sister-in-law, and I’m pleased to introduce you to her. Jenna Sabatino will be taking over the management of website designs and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) packages, among other things. She is a natural and will have a seamless integration as her hours expand to take over more of our projects.

That leaves another large portion of my job to be supported by a new team member. Last month, Jonathan just so happened to have a contact he’s worked with a couple years ago approach him for a role just like mine. Of course, at the time, Jonathan didn’t have one to offer, but they are now finalizing the first set of new initiatives to best bring in his added expertise. This new team member will be finishing his master’s degree in July of this year and knows a lot about digital marketing. He will bring many fresh ideas to bring to the table. We will provide a full announcement and more details soon! I’m sure you’ll love the new ideas they’ve been discussing.

While this might seem like a big change, I assure you it will be seamless since our team has already become so large and diversified over the past few years. There are so many factors of our day to day operation that will not change. First, Jonathan is still at the helm, leading in spectacular fashion. Our team of talented designers and developers will continue to provide industry-leading graphics, print material, and websites! Our writers will take on more responsibility as Jenna takes over more scheduling and strategy, which allows them to work more hours during a time that is so uncertain for many. And last but not least, my husband, Maxwell Ogran, will continue to support the team, edit blogs and website content, and continue to help support contractors through the Top Roof Contractors brand!

I have been very blessed to have worked alongside all of you for the past five years. With these talented new managers in place, I can peacefully transition to my new role, knowing that you are in the best of hands. I assure you that I will continue to support each of your companies every way I can to maximize your future success. Thank you for making these last few years so memorable! I’m looking forward to the new chapter ahead with all of you.

Sincerely,
Meg Ogran

The Unknowns

As we continue to work through the unknowns of this current economy, should your marketing company have unknowns about your business?

Business owners throughout the country are taking a deeper look into their marketing strategies. As you begin to analyze your efforts to find the most effective way to market in this new economy, ask yourself these questions:
question marks

  • Does my marketing company know the difference between residential and commercial marketing techniques?
  • What do they do differently to screen out residential vs. commercial leads?
  • Are they aware of the difference between the roofing substrates?
    • TPO vs. EPDM
    • Silicone vs. Acrylic Roof Coatings
    • Architectural vs. 3-tab
  • Do their employees have a background in the industry?

If they can’t provide adequate answers for these questions, how can they provide adequate marketing techniques?

Don’t be fooled by marketing companies that “do it all.” When working with a team that understands the ins and outs of roofing, you’ll be in a better position with your marketing strategy.

Reasons Top Roof Marketing Stands Out

Roofing Expertise – We’ve spent countless hours advising commercial and residential roofing contractors and servicing their needs

Accountability Measures – We keep ourselves accountable by consistently following the results of campaigns we do

In-depth Research – Our expert knowledge of the industry, its dynamics and its inner-workings give us the edge

Always Capable – We have worked with roofing companies at all stages of business development and scale

Data-Driven Results – We have tracked hundreds of campaigns to know what delivers the best return-on-investment

Personalized Support – Our clients enjoy working with a team who truly understands what their business needs the most

Meet the Core Team

You can learn about the people behind everything we do here on our Team Page.

Ready to start a conversation on how you can best gain from what we’ve learned helping 200+ commercial roofing contractors throughout the country? Give us a call at 1-800-795-2187

Important Website Add-Ons to Evaluate in 2020

When you’re building a website to improve your online presence, it’s important to ensure that it is professional, polished, and provides the right insight. After all, your goal is to attract customers to utilize your roofing services. However, there is a lot more that goes into a website than what you can see. The back end where you site is custom developed is full of opportunity to help you continue to improve. To learn more about these options, please reach out to our team at Top Roof Marketing. You can reach us at 1-800-795-2187.

Upgrade Options

Let’s start by diving into the “secured” upgrade. You might notice sites that have a “secure” green badge and/or have a URL that begins with “https” – that extra S is what will set you apart. When you have a third-party SSL certificate installed, you can improve your rankings! It’s also important because web browsers like Firefox and Chrome have begun to crack down on sites that have not been secured, and if your customer gets a warning when coming to your site, they might heed it and move on to the next available contractor.

The next upgrade option is ongoing security protection and monitoring. Many website platforms have security built in; however, these require ongoing attention and maintenance to ensure that your website is free from a hacker. In the event that a hacker does somehow break through (note: our security plan has never been compromised), your security protection package contains a warranty to repair your site free of charge!

If you’re looking to improve the speed in which your site loads, taking a look at a speed upgrade might be the right option for you. If your existing website isn’t performing properly due to speed issues, stripping out unneeded functions can improve your sites performance, and even give rankings a little boost!

One additional website add-on to consider is upgrading your hosting. If you want the best speed with an improvement on your website rankings, upgrading your hosting to a dedicated IP address is the right choice for you.

Call to Learn More

While there are many other additions that can help improve your site, like real-time chat widgets, on-exit pop ups, and ongoing SEO, the main goal is to attract your customers and keep them interested. If you’re interested in learning about any of the above-mentioned items and how they can improve your website, please call 1-800-795-2187 to learn more.

Things that can Break a Web Form

Now that you have a new website up and running, you’re ready to get leads pouring in.

But what happens when the leads never come? Have you implemented an ongoing SEO program? Have you seen your analytics traffic continue to improve? If so, and you’re not receiving the information from your site, there could be a problem. This is why it is important to test your web forms regularly!

Once your website goes live, you should test each form on your site. Beyond that, test it regularly (even once a month isn’t too often). If you notice a problem, it is important to reach out to a team of professionals immediately.

What Breaks a Web Form?

There are a few reasons that your web forms might not make it directly to you. The first is hackers pilfer your leads. If you’ve regularly had leads come through your website that suddenly halt, your website might have been hacked. They usually execute an unauthorized attack and move your data to another location, skipping over you completely.

The second way your web form might break is due to spam filters. We have regularly seen that many email platforms, Google in particular, are not fond on WordPress web form submissions with the default configuration. These forms do not even make it to your spam box, Google doesn’t even give you the option to see them.

Another way that your web form might break is due to a server upgrade that doesn’t fully implement properly. Most servers do not make you aware when they are upgrading, which is why it is important to always pay attention to patterns in your web form submissions.

Don’t Worry – The Top Roof Marketing Team is Here for You!

There are ways to quickly fix the above-mentioned scenarios! To learn more about how we can help resolve your web form submission issues, please give us a call at 1-800-795-2187. We’re here to help determine what is causing the problem and take care of it.